Teenagers in crime

In this paper we present the results of a study we conducted in Brazil and the United States of America on the main motivations for adolescents to commit crimes and how these two 'different' realities have dealt with the issue. Our main purpose for this study is to understand from a historical social and legal perspective how these societies invest in what they call 'resocialisation' programmes and then analyse how they have addressed this issue. To this end field research was conducted based on the prior preparation of summaries files interviews and questionnaires in which institutions were visited in order to collect data on the physical and administrative structures as well as on the characteristics of the adolescents. This study aimed to go beyond common sense the idea of poverty as the central cause of violence and/or lack of public safety and financial resources which 'resocialisation' programmes have not effectively worked to resolve. With this we will verify that this is much more a historical issue of these societies than of the individuals investigated here.